Political Quotes

“I rise today to remind our colleagues of the incredible opportunity that we have before us today--incredible opportunity that we have before us today. Later today, this body, the U.S. Senate, will have the opportunity to vote to ratify the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol. What does that mean? Kigali, as it is affectionately known, is a global treaty to phase down the use of hydrofluorocarbons, also known own at HFCs. For years, HFCs have been widely used as a key component that are called refrigerants, but a key component in modern air conditioners, in refrigerators, and other cooling products. Yet, the United States is already transitioning away from using HFCs. We might want to ask, why? Well, one reason is that American companies are at the forefront of developing the next generation of coolant technology, the next generation of refrigerants. This transition away from HFCs is expected to stimulate literally billions of dollars in economic investment in this country--billions of dollars; create tens of thousands of jobs; and significantly increase U.S. exports, all using technology developed in this country--all by using technology developed in this country; putting Americans to work, using technologies developed by Americans. Now, first, some history on how we got here. HFCs came about to replace ozone-depleting substances, which created a hole in our ozone layer. I said to some of my colleagues yesterday at a luncheon where we were, Mr.…”